I love the retro flavor of this movie.
Great premise for an anthology: we begin with five strangers quietly meeting in some office building and they pass the time by telling of their strangest dreams. They include Tom Baker (for one generation, the narrator of "Little Britain") sporting a fine beard.
The first story is by far the weakest. It's stylish and well paced to be sure so I would place it above a lot of feature length things the of the same genre, even recent stuff which on the whole I prefer, but it's just too formulaic and familiar to really work.
The second story is my favourite. It feels more like one of those vintage "weird fiction" stories rather than horror in the conventional sense. Two marvellous actors are at the heart of this comedic anecdote whose humour actually gives it a disquieting power. It could have gained a lot from showing a bit less, something that applies to all the stories to some extent, but it ties itself up very satisfyingly.
The third gives us some exotic appeal. It loses a lot of its potential by the end but the production values are there and the music is super. It makes on think why we don't listen to Indian music more often. I could say a similar thing about the fifth story. On that note the awesome Die Irae style main thing is awesome.
The fourth story suffers from a lack of good characterisation; it just has no personality or good pacing, not that I hate it.
And now for Baker. Great premise delivers even if it doesn't always seem to make sense. It's sort of like Final Destination two decades before final destination.
There's a wonderful wraparound which gives the movie its essential charm including a great ending and beginning. The stories themselves are a bit of a mixed bag but they have that "weird fiction" vibe where you'r just the plaything of a universe with a thing for irony and karma.
It may be sort of schlocky but that just gives in a more grotesque tone.
A real treat and very refreshing after sitting though Bird Box or The Conjuring.
Great premise for an anthology: we begin with five strangers quietly meeting in some office building and they pass the time by telling of their strangest dreams. They include Tom Baker (for one generation, the narrator of "Little Britain") sporting a fine beard.
The first story is by far the weakest. It's stylish and well paced to be sure so I would place it above a lot of feature length things the of the same genre, even recent stuff which on the whole I prefer, but it's just too formulaic and familiar to really work.
The second story is my favourite. It feels more like one of those vintage "weird fiction" stories rather than horror in the conventional sense. Two marvellous actors are at the heart of this comedic anecdote whose humour actually gives it a disquieting power. It could have gained a lot from showing a bit less, something that applies to all the stories to some extent, but it ties itself up very satisfyingly.
The third gives us some exotic appeal. It loses a lot of its potential by the end but the production values are there and the music is super. It makes on think why we don't listen to Indian music more often. I could say a similar thing about the fifth story. On that note the awesome Die Irae style main thing is awesome.
The fourth story suffers from a lack of good characterisation; it just has no personality or good pacing, not that I hate it.
And now for Baker. Great premise delivers even if it doesn't always seem to make sense. It's sort of like Final Destination two decades before final destination.
There's a wonderful wraparound which gives the movie its essential charm including a great ending and beginning. The stories themselves are a bit of a mixed bag but they have that "weird fiction" vibe where you'r just the plaything of a universe with a thing for irony and karma.
It may be sort of schlocky but that just gives in a more grotesque tone.
A real treat and very refreshing after sitting though Bird Box or The Conjuring.